Three Distance Runners Outperform in 10,000-Meter Run

NEW HAVEN, Conn—Yale track and field concluded its first meet of the outdoor season on Saturday. Though a few individual performances stood out in various events, the distance runners stole the day. As the team spent the week before its first meet training in the chilly air of Virginia, these performances may mark the beginning of a successful season for many Bulldogs once they begin to cut back on workouts for individual meets.

"A lot of events get added in, and our team has shown a lot of strength in some of those events in past years. We have our work cut out for us if we want to move up in the ranking in the Ivy League. Still, we've been able to make that move up between Indoor an Outdoor before, so I think we can do it again."

Three Bulldogs took to the track at the Tribe Invitational to race in the 10,000 run—the longest event offered in college track and field. Despite having had no practice in competing in the event thus far this season, all three competitors scored qualifying ECAC times. With such a weight lifted from their soldiers, sophomore Anna Demaree, senior Jennifer Donnelly, and freshman Elizabeth McDonald will now be able to focus on improving their personal bests as the season continues

Although Demaree had yet to compete in the event in her college career, she overcame her entire field of competitors to place first, finishing in 36:24.10. Donnelly followed closely behind in third place with a time of 37:09.65, while McDonald finished in 37:15.03, placing fourth. As a freshman on the team, this was also McDonald's first time competing in the event, showing her ample potential for the next three years. Though these three runners are used to competing in a range of distance events—they, like the rest of the team, had been training through the meet and were thus only able to compete in this one lengthy event.

Rue also saw a promising start to the season with her second place finish in the 800-meter run. Rue's time of 2:15.48 topped her best in the event from the indoor season. She further competed on Yale's 4x400-meter relay team alongside junior Kristen Proe, junior Amanda Snajder and senior Jenna Poggi. The team placed fifth out of sixteen, finishing in 4:00.23.

Snajder placed fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, despite participating in two other events. She finished in 15.94, while freshman Mackenzie Mathews followed closely at 16.14. Yale's sole competitor in the 400-meter hurdles, Poggi, placed fifth with a time of 1:05.59. Meanwhile, Proe—also the lone Bulldog in her event—finished the 400-meter dash in 1:02.41.

Sydney Cureton, the freshman who holds the Michigan state record in the 100-meter dash, finished her best race in 12.34 seconds today. Despite competing as Yale's only short sprinter in the meet, she gained a personal best of 25.80 in the 200-meter dash.

Four Bulldogs competed in the day's throwing events. Senior Antonia Renker led the team in the hammer throw with a heave of 40.09m (131'6.35). Freshman Karleh Wilson, competing in the event for the first time in college scored a mark of 38.03 (124'9.24), while sophomore Taylor Eldridge claimed a distance of 37.29 (122'4.11). Wilson also competed in the discus, finishing with a toss of 39.74m (130'4.6), placing her on Yale's top-ten list for the event. Finally, she placed fifth in the shot put—her best event and the once in which she holds the indoor school record, scoring a distance of 12.87m (42'2.69). This mark will place her on the top-ten list for the shot put in outdoor track, as well. Eldridge also gained a spot on the list with her mark of 12.02m (39'5.2). Finally, freshman Megan Toon tested her skills in the javelin, reaching a distance of 28.26 (92'8.6).

Toon's best performance came in the high jump, in which she placed fifth with a leap of 1.56m (5'1.4). Snajder competed alongside her in the event, clearing the same height. Snajder's second event was the long jump, in which she placed first of the four Bulldogs competing, placing sixth overall with a mark of 5.18m (16'11.9). Junior Teresa Parent (5.02m or 16'5.64), sophomore Alisha Jordan (4.93m or 16'2.09), and junior Emily Urciuoli (4.40m or 14'5.22) also participated.

Urciuoli saw more success in the pole vault, in which she placed eighth with a height of 3.45m (11'3.83). Freshman Renee Vogel was twelfth, clearing a height of 3.15m (10'4.02). Both Parent and Jordan challenged themselves with a second event as well, the triple jump. While Jordan was fifth overall with a mark of 11.23m (36'10.13), Parent claimed a personal triumph in surpassing her indoor best with a distance of 10.97m (35'11.9). Proe finished the event with a distance of 10.29m (33'9.19).